Local Dishes

1. kelaguen

   Kelaguen (meat or fish cured with lemon, onion and pepper)

   Usage

   The dish that is on nearly every fiesta plate. Chopped meat or fish dressed with lemon juice, onion and hot pepper. Chicken kelaguen is usually grilled first, then chopped

   Grammar Note

   There are no compound forms for the different kinds, so say kelaguen and point at the filling you want

2. hineksa' agaga'

   Red rice (rice coloured with achiote seed)

   Usage

   The fiesta staple. Rice cooked in water steeped with achoti (achiote / annatto seed). It is coloured, not spiced — no heat at all

   Grammar Note

   Careful: agaga' (red) and agå'ga' (neck) differ only in where the glottal stop falls. Writing agå'ga' would say "neck rice"

3. titiyas

   Titiyas (thick griddled flatbread)

   Usage

   Made from corn flour or wheat flour. Guam titiyas are thicker than mainland tortillas and closer to arepas. The flour version is sweet with coconut milk and sugar

   Grammar Note

   From Spanish tortilla. Titiyas means only this bread; it is not used as a filler word for "straight" or "enough"

4. estufáo

   Estufao (beef or chicken stewed with onion and garlic)

   Usage

   Beef, pork or chicken stewed with chopped onion or garlic and finished with salt and pepper. A staple at local eateries

   Grammar Note

   The alternate spelling is istofáo. From Spanish estofado, but the spelling is nativised with the acute á

5. fritåda

   Fritada (offal cooked with blood, onion and vinegar)

   Usage

   Chopped pork or beef offal cooked with blood, onion, vinegar, salt and pepper. It contains blood, so check before ordering if you avoid it for religious or dietary reasons

6. tinaktak

   Tinaktak (minced meat simmered in coconut milk)

   Usage

   Finely chopped beef simmered in coconut milk, usually with tomato and long beans, spooned over red rice

   Grammar Note

   The verb tåktak "to chop" with the nominalising infix -in-. The same pattern gives tininu from tunu and ginisa from gisa

7. chalakiles

   Chalakiles (thick soup of ground rice and meat)

   Usage

   Toasted ground rice with chopped meat or chicken, coloured with achiote water. Eaten either as a soup or ladled over white rice

   Grammar Note

   Held to be a variant of Mexican Spanish chilaquiles, but the Guam dish is a rice porridge rather than a tortilla dish

8. iskabeche

   Iskabeche (fried fish with vegetables in vinegar)

   Usage

   Fried fish topped with vegetables boiled in vinegar and coloured yellow with turmeric. Mostly made for Christmas and New Year's Day

   Grammar Note

   Spell it iskabeche, not the Spanish escabeche or the respelling eskabeche

9. adobu

   Adobu (meat stewed in sauce)

   Usage

   Chicken or pork stewed in a soy, vinegar and garlic sauce. The same family as Philippine adobo and common on Guam menus

   Grammar Note

   The alternate form is adobo; the CHamoru spelling ends in -u (adobu)

10. bistek

    Bistek (sautéed beef strips with gravy)

    Usage

    Beef strips sautéed and served in their gravy. Eaten with white rice (hineksa' å'paka')

11. gollai hågon suni

    Taro leaves stewed in coconut milk

    Usage

    Taro leaves simmered in coconut milk with turmeric, onion, hot pepper (donne') and lemon or calamansi juice. One of the few CHamoru dishes built around a vegetable

    Grammar Note

    The shortened hågon suni is also used as an alternate form; both appear on menus

12. kå'et

    Grated coconut and vegetables baked in a crab shell

    Usage

    Grated coconut and chopped vegetables cooked in coconut milk and packed into crab shells. Seen at fiestas and in households with an older cook

    Grammar Note

    Watch the near-miss: kåhet is "orange (the citrus)". The h changes the word

13. alåguan

    Alaguan (rice porridge cooked in coconut milk)

    Usage

    Rice porridge cooked in coconut milk. Eaten at breakfast or when someone is unwell

14. atmåyas

    Atmayas (corn porridge with coconut milk)

    Usage

    Coarsely ground corn cooked with water and coconut milk. Ranchers used to drink it before heading out to work

15. aroskåddo

    Aroskaddo (chicken or beef soup with rice)

    Usage

    Chicken or beef soup with rice in it. It is good when you are unwell

    Grammar Note

    From Spanish arroz caldo(so). The first half is "rice"; the second is kåddo, "soup"

16. balensiana

    Balensiana (yellow-red rice cooked with meat and vegetables)

    Usage

    Yellow-red rice cooked with finely cut meat, onion and vegetables. The phrase hineksa' balensiana is also used

    Grammar Note

    Traced to Valencia and paella. The colour is a "red yellowish", not saffron

17. ginisa

    Ginisa (meat and vegetables stir-fried)

    Usage

    Fried with onion, salt, vinegar and pepper; beef and vegetables is the common version

    Grammar Note

    The verb gisa "to fry" with the infix -in-, the same pattern as tinaktak and tininu

18. tininon kåtne

    Barbecued meat

    Usage

    As in the sentence "Ya-hu chumocho tininon kåtne." (I like to eat grilled meat). The most common thing eaten on Guam, grilled outdoors over charcoal

    Grammar Note

    tininu "barbecued" takes the linker -n before the following noun. The verb is tunu and a grill pit is fanunuyan

19. ensalåda

    Salad

    Usage

    On a fiesta plate this is more often potato or noodle salad than raw greens

    Grammar Note

    With a following noun it takes the linker -n: ensalådan batåtas, "potato salad"

20. fina'denne'

    Finadene (CHamoru chili dipping sauce)

    Usage

    Crushed hot pepper, salt and onion with lemon juice or vinegar. It sits on every table and goes on red rice and grilled meat alike. Genuinely hot

    Grammar Note

    From donne' "hot pepper" with the causative fa'- and the nominalising infix -in-. A dialectal form

21. åhu

    Ahu (sweet sticky young-coconut pudding)

    Usage

    Green coconut meat, starch, sugar and water boiled until sticky. It is said to be hard to make

22. latiya

    Latiya (sponge cake under custard and cinnamon)

    Usage

    Sponge cake covered in custard and dusted with cinnamon. The standard end to a fiesta plate

    Grammar Note

    From Spanish natilla "custard", with n changing to l, so it is not the Spanish spelling

23. bibinka

    Bibinka (rice cake)

    Usage

    Baked from rice flour, sugar and coconut milk; sold cut into squares at markets and fiesta stalls

    Grammar Note

    The spelling has no n: bibinka. The Philippine spelling bibingka differs

24. potu

    Potu (white steamed rice cake)

    Usage

    A white, gummy steamed rice cake. Only lightly sweet, and sometimes served alongside red rice and grilled meat

25. guyuria

    Guyuria (small crisp fried cookie)

    Usage

    Small rolls of dough fried and glazed with sugar syrup. Sold bagged as a souvenir

    Grammar Note

    The alternate form is guguria

26. buñelos

    Bunelos (fried doughnut)

    Usage

    Made from wheat flour but also from banana, yam (dågu) or breadfruit. Buñelos månglo' is the airy kind

    Grammar Note

    boñelos is another spelling of the same word (see buñelos). Compounds naming the kind, such as buñelos dågu, are not standard

27. empanåda

    Empanada (fried corn-dough turnover with meat)

    Usage

    Ground meat wrapped in corn dough and fried; the dough is yellow from achiote. A stall staple

    Grammar Note

    The alternate form is impanåda; with a filling it takes the linker -n, as in impanådan månnok, "chicken empanada"

28. påstet

    Pastet (baked turnover)

    Usage

    Filling folded in dough and baked — the difference from empanåda, which is fried

    Grammar Note

    The spelling is påstet, not pastit

29. apigige'

    Apigige (tapioca and young coconut grilled in a leaf)

    Usage

    Grated tapioca mixed with sugar and young coconut, wrapped in a leaf and grilled on a flat iron (kommat). Note: an archaic word. Still seen at fiestas and village markets, but it is not an everyday word

    Grammar Note

    The commonly seen spelling apigigi' is not correct; the right form is apigige'

30. chesa

    Appetiser, a small dish with drinks

    Usage

    A small plate eaten while drinking, close to Spanish tapas. Na'chesa is what appears on menus for "appetizers"

    Grammar Note

    Used as both a noun and a verb: "Maila ta fan chesa." — "Come, let us have appetizers."

31. postre

    Dessert

    Usage

    Anything sweet after the meal; latiya, guyuria and buñelos all sit under this heading

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